Hi Giant goers! This is my very first post ever, but I have been a lurker for quite awhile on this website. I made this PrC made mostly for the Monk class for 3.5 and Pathfinder for a campaign that a friend of mine may be running in the near future. Really this is my first attempt at anything like this, and i have no idea if it is OP, UP, or something in between. And advice would be helpful and well accepted! Hope you all Enjoy :smallsmile:

P.S.
Please be gentle... don't rough me up too much on my first attempt.

Warrior’s Wisdom: It is important for a monk of any order to keep his mind just as keen as his body. Knowing how to react in combat and read your enemies is just as important as knowing how to effectively wield a weapon. With Warrior’s Wisdom the Weapon Adept gains the ability to use all the techniques of his style, and gains a bonus equal to his Wisdom modifier to all attack and damage roles made with any weapon that is specified as a Monk weapon.

Gaining the Initiative: Weapon Adept's scan the battlefield and analyze all of those involved to try and gain the best possible footing. Because of this they are prepared to make quick and decisive actions. Beginning at 2nd level, and continuing on ever even level thereafter, the Adept gains +1 bonus to his initiative modifier.

One with the Weapon: A Weapon Adept has tirelessly trained with a specific group of weapons, and because of this it has become an extension of oneself. With this ability the Weapon Adept displays his dominion over this weapon group. Beginning at 1st level, and advancing at every odd level, the Weapon Adept continues to strengthen the bond between the weapon and the body and gains a bonus d6 damage on the first attack of a round in which he uses flurry of blows.

Monk Abilities: The class levels of a Weapon Adept stack with Monk levels for determining the effect of his AC bonus, flurry of blows, stunning fist, and his ki pool.

Aspect of the Adept: Using a weapon as a tool is against the code of the Weapon Adept. The Adept aims to make the weapon a part of his own body striking with such fluidity that his opponents are left in awe. While wielding any Monk weapon this ability allows for the Weapon Adept’s grace to flourish. When gaining Aspect of the Adept the Weapon Adept is able to attack with Monk weapons as if they were a natural part of his body. Because of this the Adept treats any weapons with the Monk quality (including ranged weapons) as an unarmed strike for the purpose of Ki Strike. Aspect of the Adept also grants the Weapon Adept additional movement speed (+10 at level 3, +20 at level 7). Upon reaching 9th level the Adept moves with such grace that he seems to be flowing through the battlefield. Because of this the Adept provokes no attacks of opportunity while moving less than half of his maximum distance.

Ki Training: When reaching level 4, and again at level 8, a Weapon Adept may choose a Ki Power from the Qinggong Monk power list of the corresponding level. If the Weapon Adept chooses too they may gain another 4th level power when reaching 8th level.

Rapid Strike: When achieving Rapid Strike the Adept gains an almost unnatural speed with his weapon. When using this technique the Weapon Adept gains the ability to use flurry of blows as a standard action if he has only moved a number of feet equal to, or less than, his total maximum distance.

Weapon Mastery: Upon reaching 10th level the Weapon Adept masters the understanding of his weapons, and knows how to use them with deadly precision. Reaching this point of mastery is what all Weapon Adepts strive to achieve, but only the most fabled legends of a master this proficient exist. Some practitioners believe that it is humanly impossible to achieve such a state. This amount of mastery attempts to push the body of the Adept to its limits to achieve victory. When using this technique the Weapon Adept can apply the bonus damage he receives from Warrior’s Wisdom to every attack, rather than just the first attack of flurry of blows. Along with this the Weapon Adept gains the ability to use an additional attack at his full Base Attack Bonus when making a flurry of blows attack with a Monk weapon. This technique is very taxing on the Adept’s body and because of this he can only use Weapon Mastery a number of rounds per day equal to half his Weapon Adept level + his Wisdom modifier.

I also want to thank Guigarci for all of the helpful comments he has given me, and because of this I am granting him the title of Honorary Co-Creator.

MShuff91

2014-05-07, 12:46 AM

C'mon guys... surely someone has something to say :P

I was also considering a class feature that allowes Monk weapons to be treated as a Monk's Ki strike for the effects of things like Cold Iron. Would that be too much?

Please help me out here guys.

Gildedragon

2014-05-07, 03:01 AM

So:
1st thing: this has the same name as a Monk Archetype; is this intentional? One can qualify pretty easy with that archetype for this.

Do the abilities, in general, apply to unarmed strikes? as they stand they don't; not sure if that is the intent.

Warrior's Wisdom is 2 distinct abilities: +wis to attack and damage and a scaling bonus to initative. Separate them, as the 2nd level onward plusses have nothing to do with the level 1 ability

Monk Abilities: do they affect Unarmed Strike damage dice?

Aspect of the Adept: It is a bit odd flavor-mechanics wise you say "The Adept aims to make the weapon a part of his own body striking with such fluidity..." it sounds as if you are talking of melee weapons, but the ability applies to ranged attacks (and there are only 2 ranged monk weapons AFAIK, 6 if you allow a Zen Archer's bows to work with this).
In addition to that this ability has one (possibly two) other abilities riding off of it: rapid movement and AoO negation.
On that note: how do you distinguish between movement, movement due to fast movement from Aspect of the Adept, and movement due to fast movement from other sources? So for the first 30 feet one provokes or what? This is really confusing.
Separate the ranged concealment from the movement bonus.
Rapid Strike: Interesting, but this means they prolly wont be moving much; essentially reducing the speed of monks in combat to 20ft at most. Should be "half their maximum distance" or something like that. That way the monks can skirmish some.

So on the good side: this class makes fighting with monk weapons better, but it adds little versatility to monks.
Give this guy something to do with his ki pool...

MShuff91

2014-05-07, 01:07 PM

Guigarci thank you for the in depth post I really liked that you put some thought into it. First of all the name of this PrC was not intentionally named after the archtype for the monk, however after having looked at it on the SRD I see that they do meld fairly well; so I guess this PrC could be considered an extension of that.

Secondly, no these abilities do not work with unarmed strikes as this class aims to make later level fighting with Monk weapons have some advantage to it. As of now using Monk weapons early and switching to Unarmed Strikes later is the becst way to go, but I'm aiming to give people who enjoy the Monk weapons a way to continue using them without gimping themselves.

Thanks for the Warrior’s Wisdom advice I'll split those up in an edit of the post.

Monk Abilities do not grant Unarmed Strike dice as, once again, this PrC wants people to focus on using Monk weapons.

As far as Aspect of the Adept goes it was my intent for it to only work on Melee weapons. I'll go back and fix the wording on it. Thanks for pointing out that flaw in the wording.

Rapid Stike does kind of hinder the players want to move long distances, so the 1/2 total movement speed really sticks out to me. I'll probably use that idea for both Aspect of the Adept and Rapid Strike.

As far as the Ki pool goes I was thinking of incorporating a system where Monk weapons could be counted as a Monk's Ki strike for things like Cold Iron to overcome DR. Maybe I could also create a system where the use of the Adept’s Ki pool grants him Fighter bonus feats like Weapon Specialization, Blind Fight, etc... for a certain amount of Ki per round?

Once again thanks a ton for the advice! I really appreciate it.

Gildedragon

2014-05-07, 01:28 PM

You're welcome

As far as Aspect of the Adept goes it was my intent for it to only work on Melee weapons. I'll go back and fix the wording on it. Thanks for pointing out that flaw in the wording.
It working on all monk weapons, including ranged ones would be good. help make shuriken useful ya know...
On that note, allow it to work with Zen Archer, that way there are a few more options available to monks.

As far as the Ki pool goes I was thinking of incorporating a system where Monk weapons could be counted as a Monk's Ki strike for things like Cold Iron to overcome DR. Maybe I could also create a system where the use of the Adept’s Ki pool grants him Fighter bonus feats like Weapon Specialization, Blind Fight, etc... for a certain amount of Ki per round?
I would look to the qigong monk for ideas on what abilities they ought to get.
maybe give the monk a coupa bonus feat slot for Style Feats or ToB style maneuvers?

MShuff91

2014-05-07, 02:08 PM

Wow man you are seriously a huge help. I'm gonna check that stuff out and see what all I get out of it. When I get all of this sorted out I'm going to label you as co-creator lol